Until It's Gone
by x.x.x.RaindropsOnRoses.x.x.x
Summary: Just a little extension of the scene between Klaus and Elijah in 5x03, and how his brother's rejection makes him realise just how much he's about to lose. O/S. Also on AO3!


**A/N: Originally a prompt on Twitter, written for KOriginalAddict. "AS HE was begging Elijah to help find Hayley for Hope's sake... he realised something he never let himself admit".**

 **This one's for you, Nes 3**

"Hayley is missing," Klaus said, the last syllable of her name getting caught painfully in his throat.

That seemed to be happening an awful lot lately, he'd noticed - the pain only increasing in volume with every utterance of his fellow hybrid's name.

Why was that, he wondered.

Why was that, indeed?

If he was being completely honest with himself, he had a theory, but it was much to wild and overwhelming to be true.

Furthermore, if it were true... well, then he'd been doing everything wrong since the birth of Hope, with no chance of rewriting his story.

Unless he got Hayley back, that was.

Yes.

He HAD to find her.

It was imperative - and the sooner, the better.

Klaus turned back to the shell of his brother, now standing smug and unrecognisable before him. Surely Hayley's name would spark something within him?

It had to.

After all, you did not spend as many years pursuing a love as had his brother, only to throw them away as if they meant nothing more than a stray piece of litter fluttering along a cold, dark street.

"HAYLEY," Klaus repeated, this time unable to restrain the waver in his voice as he enunciated the word, slow and carefully.

Even the hybrid's desperate plea seemed not to affect this person who looked like Elijah in any way whatsoever. Whomever he was, he certainly was not the brother that Klaus knew and worshipped, that much was abundantly clear.

"The mother of my CHILD! Hope's MOTHER!"

There is was - that anger bubbling beneath the hurt at the vacant, cold and disparaging look in the eyes only a few feet away.

"Your niece needs you. I need YOU. We need you to help us find Hayley - I don't know if I can do it without you."

At this, Elijah finally scoffed.

"Don't you see, Niklaus? I. Don't. Care." Elijah bit out, cold and exacting in a way that sent a chill down Klaus' spine.

A look of horror crossed Klaus' face. "This is Hayley we're talking about. The mother of your NIECE. Surely that means something to you? It HAS to!"

Elijah stepped up to Klaus, facing him with a cruel look curling his lip and a twinkle of black in his eyes. "No more than the name Mikaelson," he said quietly.

Klaus stared onwards, aghast. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Never in his thousand-year existence did he believe he would hear his brother reject his family for a life that was a lie. A facade. A mirage brought on by a severe case of amnesia.

And yet, here they were.

Two immortals, squaring up over the same hybrid's name, each of them protesting for a different cause.

Klaus, asking his brother to help him find his - what even was Hayley to him? More than a family member, not quite a lover... his sole equal in this world. His Queen - Hope's mother.

And Elijah, pleading for the Hybrid king, Klaus Mikaelson to leave him be.

Convincing Elijah for his help, once would have been easy - only this was not the brother Klaus knew and loved beyond what bounds humans believed capable.

Still he had to try.

For Hayley.

For Hope.

And if he was being completely honest...

For himself.

He wasn't clear as to why but something about this entire affair was bringing the once untouchable Mikaelson to his knees. He was distraught, anxious and hurting. Perhaps if he let this version of Elijah see that, he would help him regardless of his reservations. Was it not human nature to be willing to help an innocent party who was lost in the fray, to take that life-saving step back away from the edge they were about to stumble over?

"Please, brother," Klaus choked out. "I am begging you."

A single, well-formed tear slid down Klaus' cheek as he continued on, his voice as feeble and broken as ever.

"If not for the wellbeing of Hayley, then for Hope. No child, no matter who their parents are, should have to grow up without their mother."

Elijah smirked. Smirked.

"I know alll about you and your wretched family. The way I see it, I'm doing the poor child a favour. With any luck, she'll find a way to be rid of you too." Elijah's voice was as icy as ever now.

Klaus gasped in shock. He knew Elijah could be harsh, but this...? "Elijah, PLEASE-"

"NO."

The reply from his brother came cold and final, like the hand of an almighty lord smashing his most prized warrior into oblivion.

"Not now, not ever. Do you understand? I am done with Rebekah and Kol and Freya and Hayley. I am done with Hope, just as I am done with YOU."

That's when Klaus felt it.

Something inside him breaking, and a realisation snapping into being in its wake.

Elijah wasn't just rejecting Hayley, or the idea of putting his life at risk to save her for the good of his niece.

No.

He was rejecting Klaus and his entire family.

He was rejecting the promise of Always and Forever, and destroying any and all hopes of reuniting their family.

And that is what left Klaus broken.

But then, there was also the matter of what Klaus finally came to realise.

The reason he could not so aptly name what Hayley was to him, other than the mother of his child.

It's because for so long, he held himself back.

He chose not to feel anything, at first because it was easier and far simpler that way. Then, out of fear of being rejected and betrayed as he always was, eventually. And just when he thought he could open up, and finally began to let himself feel something... that's when big brother swooped in and took it for himself. So he closed himself back off again and watched from the sidelines, hungering after something he would never have.

Yet through it all, there was a familiar and strong feeling nagging at the corners of his ancient heart - one that Klaus continued to deny or displace elsewhere.

And that feeling was precisely why that even after Elijah's time with Hayley had come and gone, he still refused to admit to himself, the truth and depth of what Hayley meant to him.

He had lost so much, had so much taken from him in his many lifetimes that he couldn't bare the thought of a single other thing sharing the same fate. He was so afraid of losing something that he could have, that he continually pushed it aside and lived in denial of what he knew to be true, and had known for quite some time.

His five-year tenure in the wall had gifted him the time to think of many things, and to realise a great many others- like how he had come to rely so greatly upon his hybrid equal, who just happened to be the mother of his child. He thought of how she had given his miserable life new meaning and he, a purpose.

That led to the realisation of what would happen to him, were he ever to lose her, or his daughter. Hope; his true North Star.

Still, here he was with Hayley missing with any and all leads slipping from his grasp, his once 'noble' brother rejecting both his family and the prospect of helping a person in dire need of assistance and for all the denying of his feelings, he was no better off.

No more denial.

Klaus was done with lying to himself, Elijah's rejection finally allowing him to realise a stark truth.

Hayley, despite everything he had done, accepted him wholly for the person he was. She took the good with the bad, and she had come back for him every time- no questions asked. For that reason alone, he found himself finally admitting how much she meant to him, even though it was the scariest thing he had ever done.

After all, his old mind was a dark, often scary place.

He loved and trusted Hayley, but in such a profound way that to simply say it did not aptly describe the depth of the connection they shared. It was beyond compare, and Klaus was sure that there was no word in the English dictionary that was capable of doing it justice.

Yes, he loved her, but it was more than that.

He needed her.

He needed to know that she was okay.

And he would.

Klaus was going to get Hayley back, even if it was the last thing he did.

After all, it felt as though his entire existence depended on it.

Who knew, maybe it did. Or maybe, maybe it was just a wolf thing.


End file.
